Yuga looked at Gothita, who had returned safely, and said to Cubchoo: "Look, isn't Gothita back now?"
Seeing Gothita's bedraggled state, he thought to himself: Looks like Spoink really has learned something—its prophecy was quite accurate!
Gothita had suffered quite a bit, and when she saw her friend Cubchoo looking at her with concern, she hugged it with an aggrieved expression, tears swirling and rolling around in her eyes.
Seeing this, Yuga said: "But Spoink warned you beforehand—it's you who didn't believe it. You're not allowed to cry now!"
At these words, Gothita glared at Yuga: What, I'm not even allowed to feel wronged after suffering? She then swiftly scrambled onto Cubchoo's back and, fuming, rode it away.
Yuga could only shake his head helplessly.
Beside them, after safely delivering Gothita back, Flygon once again spread its wings and flew off to continue its patrol outside.
A few days later, Shaya finally made up her mind to become an actress, so through Diantha's connections, she was taken to Johto by Ninetales.
Diantha had been in Johto recently for filming.
However, the very next day, Yuga received a phone call from Shaya—or more accurately, not from Shaya herself, but from a manager of an entertainment company. At that time, Shaya and Ninetales were still in Hoenn and had not yet reached Johto.
It turned out that when the pair, one person and one Pokémon, were passing through a small town, Shaya saw some street performers (singing) by the roadside. Unable to resist, she borrowed the performers' instruments and, imitating them, also sang a song on the street.
At that moment, a talent scout happened to be passing by and was immediately captivated by Shaya's singing voice.
When Shaya finished singing, he ran up to her without hesitation to strike up a conversation, wanting to sign her into their company as a singer.
The scout later contacted his company's manager, who met with Shaya and discussed in detail many matters concerning becoming a singer.
The manager also listened to Shaya sing, and right then and there decided she absolutely had to be signed to their company.
At the time, Ninetales was not pleased. It had originally planned to take Shaya into acting, then form a duo with her, intending to make a spectacular debut together!
Ninetales had been in the entertainment industry for some time, and though it had gradually gained a bit of fame, it was still stuck in a middling position. It felt that Shaya might be its chance.
But Shaya had her own ideas. Persuaded by that manager, she felt that being a singer suited her more than being an actress. After all, compared to acting, she enjoyed singing more.
So, despite Ninetales' objections, Shaya and that manager called Yuga.
Although Shaya was already several hundred years old, her official identification information issued by the League stated she was only sixteen years old. While this was just old enough to meet the League's legal adult age, she still had a legal guardian—and that guardian was Yuga.
Whether to seek Yuga's opinion or to facilitate signing a contract, Yuga would inevitably be notified.
The company that wanted to sign Shaya was called Starlight Entertainment. Upon looking into it, Yuga discovered it was actually a very well-known major company. Several film and television stars and singers he knew of were under their banner.
Although Yuga respected Shaya's decision, he did not immediately agree to her signing. Instead, he made a special call to Diantha to learn more about Starlight Entertainment in detail.
Diantha was in the industry, so of course her understanding of entertainment companies was much deeper than that of an outsider like Yuga.
Fortunately, according to Diantha, this company had a good reputation and was well-regarded in the industry—a pretty decent company overall.
After that, the company contacted Yuga several more times. Seeing their sincerity, Yuga left the final decision to Shaya.
Once Shaya learned from Yuga that the company was fairly reliable, she immediately decided to sign with them—driving Ninetales half mad with anger.
Yuga reviewed the contract they provided; the terms were relatively flexible and the benefits were good. Since he ran a breeding house and often had to sign all kinds of contracts with clients, he was very familiar with the fine print and hidden clauses in contracts.
Fortunately, Starlight Entertainment showed genuine sincerity.
They had no choice but to be sincere—only after contacting Yuga did the company's manager learn that Shaya had such a powerful backer.
Although they were in entirely different circles, Yuga's identity was something that could be easily investigated with just a bit of inquiry, and he was clearly someone they could not afford to offend. So, the people at Starlight Entertainment never considered playing any little tricks on Yuga.
The signing process went very smoothly. After that, how Starlight Entertainment planned to develop Shaya would be entirely a matter between the two parties; Yuga had no intention of getting involved.
Although Yuga held the title of Shaya's guardian, after a year or two, once Shaya had fully adapted to life in the human world, that title of "guardian" would naturally go away on its own.
Most of the time, that title was really just for show.
However, considering that Shaya was not very skilled in dealing with people and social situations, he arranged for a little helper for her—a Solosis.
This Solosis was very special.
Its natural potential was not very good. Even after using an Innovation Potion, it still only had yellow potential as a Pokémon. But it was extremely intelligent and even possessed telepathy.
This Solosis was the very first Pokémon Yuga had ever bred in his Pokémon Day Care that had telepathy. Its mind was sharp and quick, but unfortunately, its potential was lacking—a bit of a regret.
So Yuga arranged for it to stay by Shaya's side, to watch over her so she wouldn't be deceived while out in the world.
Solosis found it boring to just stay in the Pokémon Day Care, and was very willing to go out adventuring with Shaya, so the two of them hit it off immediately.
However, the ownership of Solosis still belonged to YoYo Day Care—Shaya did not hold its ownership rights.
After Shaya signed with the company, Ninetales was sent back by Shaya.
This time, Ninetales had gone out intending to take Shaya to meet Diantha, but now that Shaya had decided to become a singer, it naturally returned—and in doing so, it had stood Diantha up.
Diantha, having a very good relationship with Ninetales, didn't mind this small matter, but Ninetales itself was furious, and as a result, it even stopped paying much attention to Yuga.
Previously, Ninetales had wanted Yuga to persuade Shaya to give up becoming a singer, but Yuga hadn't intervened. Ninetales felt that Yuga hadn't helped it, and therefore believed Yuga didn't care about it.
Ninetales ignored Yuga, and Yuga pretended not to notice, ignoring Ninetales in return. This only made Ninetales even angrier, until it finally couldn't resist and took the initiative to speak to Yuga.
One day, a Fletchinder flapped its wings and landed on Yuga's shoulder, immediately transforming into a Ditto. It whispered something into Yuga's ear, to which Yuga exclaimed in delight.
"Really?"
Ditto nodded repeatedly, so Yuga quickly lifted his foot and headed straight toward the Ecopark, going directly into the Dragon Den Sub-Ecopark.
When he arrived at the Dragon Den Sub-Ecopark, Dragonite Mother, Dragonite, Charizard, and Doudou were all gathered in a circle, looking at something, from which a faint glow was emanating.
"Let me have a look too."
Yuga strode forward, and Doudou thoughtfully made room for him. In the middle of the gathered Pokémon was a glowing Pokémon egg.
It was the very same one that the old ancestor of Dragon Island had given to Yuga, and at that moment, it was about to hatch.
After more than ten minutes, the flickering of the light on the egg grew faster and faster, until suddenly the light flared brightly, and from within emerged a tiny Pokémon.
The little one curled its body, eyes tightly shut. It took quite a while before its eyelids trembled and slowly opened.
...
[ Gible ]
Type: Dragon, Ground
Ability: Rough Skin
Gender: Female
Potential: Indigo
Level: 5
Moves: Tackle, Sand Attack, Iron Head.
...
The Pokémon egg that hatched turned out to be a tiny Gible.
"Gible?"
The newly hatched Gible seemed a little confused, and with its big, round, watery eyes, it curiously looked around at everyone.
"Gible~ Gible~"
Suddenly, it turned its gaze toward Dragonite Mother, and then broke into a smile. Like a swallow returning to its nest, it dove straight into Dragonite Mother's embrace.
Ever since they had returned from Dragon Island, Dragonite Mother had been the one to spend the most time caring for the Pokémon egg, especially in its final days before hatching. So the little one was most familiar with Dragonite Mother's scent and felt the closest to her.
"Gible~"
Dragonite Mother happily picked Gible up, rubbing her cheek against Gible's cheek. Although she felt a bit regretful that the Pokémon that hatched wasn't a Dratini, she still adored the little one very much.
Gible, with its tiny short arms, also hugged Dragonite Mother's face and rubbed hard against her, all the while letting out a constant gurgling sound from its throat.
Charizard, too, looked at the newborn Gible with great fondness, imagining what her own child would be like when it was born, her face glowing with maternal radiance.
Her belly was already very large, and unlike most pregnant Pokémon, her stomach had swollen in a very short amount of time—probably due to the influence of the Dragon Pearl.
"ROAR!!!"
Just as everyone was overjoyed at the birth of this new life, Charizard suddenly felt waves of pain coming from her belly and couldn't help but let out a groan.
Dragonite Mother took one look and immediately knew—this was it, she was about to give birth!
Yuga was startled upon hearing this and exclaimed, "So soon? This timing doesn't seem right…"
Then he thought of the Dragon Pearl and realized that it wasn't strange for Charizard to give birth so quickly—her belly had already grown to a certain extent.
During her pregnancy, Charizard's level had officially surpassed the Champion level, and she was now a Master level Pokémon, with a level almost equal to that of her mate, Dragonite.
After a short burst of panic, Charizard was sent into her temporary quarters in the Dragon Den Sub-Ecopark, with Dragonite Mother and Doudou following inside to help deliver the baby.
Little Gible was temporarily handed over to Dragonite to take care of, letting him get a taste of what it felt like to be a father in advance.
Although Charizard's delivery came a little suddenly, Doudou was already very experienced in helping Pokémon give birth, and Dragonite Mother was well-prepared, so everything went very smoothly.
Yuga's state of mind was relatively calm, but Dragonite was different—he paced back and forth anxiously, occasionally flying into the air for a while before suddenly landing again.
Dragonite kept this up until the Gible in his arms grew annoyed. It bared its mouth full of sharp teeth and bit down on Dragonite's forearm with a crunch.
Even though Gible had only been born for a short while, unlike human babies who had no teeth, its mouth was already full of large, sharp, gleaming white teeth.
However, Dragonite's scales were clearly harder, and Gible could barely leave any marks on them.
Still, that bite from Gible actually calmed Dragonite's heart. He gently reached out with one claw and patted Gible's little head.
Gible became even more displeased and bit down on Dragonite's arm with another crunch, but Dragonite still felt nothing at all.
So, Gible simply decided to lock horns with Dragonite—crunch crunch crunch—successfully diverting Dragonite's attention.
An hour later, the child of Dragonite and Charizard was successfully born, but what surprised Yuga was that Charizard had actually given birth to twins.
The patterns on the two Pokémon eggs were different—one had a pale blue shell, while the other had a bright red shell—clearly indicating that the Pokémon inside would not be the same in the future.
The blue-shelled egg was slightly larger, and it even possessed a natural purple potential.
This was the first time Yuga had ever seen a Pokémon born with an innate purple potential, and it was undoubtedly the result of the old ancestor's Dragon Pearl.
Although the old ancestor was not a Legendary Pokémon, it was practically no different from one. When Yuga had encountered it, it was already aged and near death; otherwise, its strength would definitely have ranked among the very top of all Level 100 Pokémon Yuga had ever seen.
All of the ancestor's essence was contained within the Dragon Pearl, and it was clear that this child had inherited it.
As for the red-shelled one… it seemed rather unremarkable in comparison.
It wasn't that its potential was bad—having a blue potential was already very good—but as with all things, comparisons are cruel. Compared to its sibling, it just seemed ordinary.
It was neither purple potential nor indigo potential.
In fact, what Yuga didn't know was that when Charizard first conceived, the more fragile one was actually the blue-shelled Pokémon.
Pregnancy for high-level Pokémon takes an especially heavy toll on the mother's body, so in most cases, if twins are conceived, one of them is very likely to die in the womb.
The blue-shelled one had originally been the one destined to die, but fortunately, it had regressed to inherit the old ancestor's bloodline. The Dragon Pearl, by sheer chance, ended up in Charizard's belly and was absorbed by it, allowing the blue-shelled one to avoid its fate of dying prematurely.
As a result, this egg overtook its sibling and became the stronger of the two.
In any case, Charizard giving birth to twins was something worth celebrating, and both Yuga, Dragonite, and Dragonite Mother were all extremely happy.
After celebrating together with everyone in the Dragon Den Sub-Ecopark, Yuga decided to go out and call Steven and Robert to ask about his own Pokémon egg.
But unexpectedly, Steven's phone couldn't be reached. Yuga immediately guessed that he had probably gone out exploring, so he had no choice but to give up on that and instead dial Robert's number.
Robert's phone went through, and he was very happy to receive Yuga's call. When he learned that Yuga's Pokémon egg had hatched, he was even more surprised.
"Really, my Pokémon egg hatched too! I was just about to call you—what a coincidence."
Yuga hadn't expected that not only would both of their Pokémon eggs hatch on the same day, but also that the children of Charizard and Dragonite would be born on this very day as well.
"Yes, it's such an incredible coincidence. What Pokémon hatched from your egg?"
"It's a Goomy…"
Robert's Pokémon egg had also hatched a pseudo-Legendaey Pokémon.
The two of them chatted for a while about their newly born Pokémon, and Yuga also confirmed from Robert that Steven had indeed gone out exploring.
Robert had heard this from his senior, Wallace. After leaving Sootopolis City, Robert had gone to visit Wallace, deciding to train with his senior for a while, which was how he happened to learn the news about Steven.